SmartFarm Update

This, my friends, is the future home of the SmartFarm. There’s not much there now, but that right there is about 10-acres. A whole lot of land to develop! The property is fenced in to keep the cows off the property — yes the cattle like to roam around and I hear that they are pretty curious creatures.

Here’s the left side …..which pretty much looks the same as the front.

And the right side with a light pole right smack dab where we wanted the entrance to be. Beyond that….way back there is an elementary school, which in a week will be filled with itty bitty children and future gardeners.

So this summer has been quite eventful – in between all the traveling adventures, the SmartFarm team has been in meetings….

after meetings…..

after meetings….

….learning all that we can about building a farm, city codes and permitting, creating a nonprofit, fundraising, pole barn architecture, drainage, wells and community farming! WHEW! It just makes my head spin!

We’re so thankful for the some of these community leaders for so generously giving their time and expertise to our project, patiently answering our 50,001 questions. Most people that we met with and talked to this summer said the same thing to us.

You can’t do this in October in 3 days.

But WHY?

Of course I have to ask why, it’s in my nature to never accept no for an answer….and if it’s still a no, I’ll find a way around it.

I’ve never been a long range planner. Some people have 5-year plans, 10-year plans, even 25-year plans.

That’s not to say that I don’t plan at all. Quite contrary. I create vision boards and draw out business strategies…but generally they are 3-5 year plans. Life changes too fast to plan for any longer! I mean, who knew 3 1/2 years ago that Steamy Kitchen would be this crazy adventure? I’m not the type that socks away the maximum every year for my Roth IRA either, but you probably have already guessed that.

“Well, you’re building a sustainable farm, right? That means it should be in existence in 50 years.”

Oh.

Heh.

Yeah, you’re right.

So that brought us back to the drawing board, because she’s right….they are all right.

In my world, I’m used to idea! quick! build! bam! done. If I want to tell the world how I feel – my speedy-Gonzales fingers can type it in 3 seconds and submit to Twitter. Email takes me 15 seconds to respond. A blog post just a few hours. Fried rice in 8 minutes. Miso soup in 5. A flyer designed in 30 minutes. A cookbook in 2 years.

My world is fast. And it’s because I always find a way around the no — do you feel sorry for my parents when I was younger?!

But this time, I think no is the right answer.

No, this SmartFarm can’t be built in 3 days because it deserves better than that. It deserves better than to be just another project or media blitz. The farm is for the people who live here now, as well as the community who will live here in 50 years.

Don’t you think that’s the right thing to do?

That being said, we still are groundbreaking this October, building out the SmartFarm in phases. The first phase will be the children’s garden, large vegetable beds, family plots to rent and dabble in a bit of aquaponics. I’m also hoping to have the hen-house set up as well, it would be fun to show the kids that eggs don’t just come from a carton! And in the meantime, we’re working on our business plan — our 1 year plan all the way up to — you got it — what it would look like in 50 years.

I am really looking forward to watching the development of the Smartfarm through your posts. From all of the work and planning going into this, it certainly sounds as though this is a project that could be sustained and treasured by the community for 50 years and more.

Even though my parents were both agricultural scientists, the whole thing about feeding the soil and keeping it healthy just like we need to feed ourselves or other living creatures has only clicked in my mind recently.

Plants live on nutrients from the soil, water and the sun and although we don’t think about it much, it’s obviously sucking the soil dry of all the good stuff, so we need to feed the soil with compost!

I guess that’s what your dear advisers meant when they mentioned sustainable farming. Gotta make sure the soil stays healthy.

You can see short term effects of what happens when you just keep letting a plant feed off a small amount of soil in a small pot. The nutrients will run out quickly and the plant itself will become malnourished.

When the soil is depleted of certain nutrients, plants can get sick too. Both humans and plants for example can suffer from side effects if there is a zinc deficiency, among other things.

Any farmers reading this will probably laugh at the ignorance of the more educated types.

I am enamored of your Smart Farm love and yes as a fellow think on me feet, plan some but not to far…no is the right answer this time. But you already know that. I am so excited for you though and can’t wait to pour over each phase post. It will be rewarding to see how it develops and is entrusted to each generation; to be treasured by all involved and for those of us tagging along for the adventure.

Getting it right at the start is one of the best ways to ensure you create something that will be a permanent part of your community. What a great question to really bring into focus the purpose of the project.

It’s funny to think of “building” a farm. I’ve never considered building a farm from scratch. To me, it’s more of a living, breathing thing…you groom it, coax it…give it what it needs to thrive. The 50 year plan goes right along with that. As difficult as the question may be to answer, it’s an important one.

Making progress on the Smart Farm! So awesome. It will totally be worth all the hard work. Plus, you’re lucky to live in such a warm area – you’ll be able to make full use of the weather and grow whatever you want!

Wow, such a great idea and exciting project! There are quite a few community farms in my area – Lancaster, PA – and we’re blessed to have such fertile earth, ready for planting. Good luck in your farming endeavors and I can’t wait to read the updates!

a 50-year plan makes sense! I’m a small business owner and something I once read really woke me up to do short-term, and various long-term goals. “Failing to plan, is planning to fail”. And if you don’t know what goals you want to reach, you’ll never know if what you’re doing is successful.